541 bodies of Ukrainian defenders brought back to Ukraine – Commissioner for Missing Persons

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – SATURDAY, 27 AUGUST 2022, 20:12

Ukraine, through the mediation of the Red Cross, has recovered the bodies of 541 soldiers, including more than 300 bodies of Azovstal defenders.

Source: Oleh Kotenko, the Commissioner for Persons Missing under special circumstances, cited on the website of the Council of Ministers of Ukraine

Quote from Kotenko: "Through the International Committee of Red Cross office, we managed to organise communication with the Russian side.

Negotiations with the aggressor are difficult, but we have already managed to recover 541 fallen defenders. 428 bodies were brought from Mariupol, more than 300 of whom were defenders of Azovstal. We are bringing back victims from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk fronts, from everywhere."

Details: According to Kotenko, the Ukrainian side transfers the information about the location of dead Ukrainian soldiers to the Russian side.

"They [Russians - ed.] have to take them, and then we exchange them for the fallen Ukrainians. But the Russian Federation does not always want to go to the war zone, even when a ceasefire is declared. It is even difficult to arrange for the bodies of our guys to be taken from TOT [temporarily occupied territories - ed.]. Due to the huge losses of personnel, the Russians are not able to cope with their dead," he said.

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